School Notes: School of Art
November/December 2020

Hayden Distinguished Speakers

This fall semester, the Yale School of Art welcomes four Hayden Distinguished Speakers: Angela Y. Davis, Hortense Spillers, Stefano Harney, and Fred Moten. Initially launched in 2017, this speakership, generously made possible by the Hayden Fund for Art and Ideas, continues to bring globally recognized leaders in art and the academy to Yale to work with students as teachers, mentors, and critics. The four guests are speaking virtually to first-year MFA students as part of the all-school interdisciplinary seminar, Diving Into the Wreck: Rethinking Critical Practices, led by Stavros Niarchos Foundation Dean and Professor of Art, Marta Kuzma.  Past Hayden Distinguished Fellows include Andrea Fraser, Peter Osborne, Carol Bove, Richard Hawkins, and Hito Steyerl, as well as past Hayden Distinguished Visiting Artist Jessica Stockholder ’85MFA.

Academic leadership updates

Last summer, the School of Art announced three new appointments to its academic leadership: In June, Associate Professor Meleko Mokgosi joined Professor Anoka Faruqee ’94 as codirector of graduate studies in painting/printmaking—both artists excited to reimagine the leadership of the department as a collaborative endeavor. Also in June, Senior Critic A. L. Steiner was appointed by Dean Marta Kuzma as assistant dean for planning and relations, with the aim to foster increased collaboration among colleagues and students across all areas within the graduate and undergraduate programs. Finally, in July, Senior Critic Julian Bittiner ’08MFA was appointed assistant director of graphic design studies, working alongside the program’s director of graduate studies in graphic design, Sheila Levrant de Bretteville ’64MFA.